The wealthy gentleman’s GT

Coincidence? Perhaps. All we know is that it was fortuitous timing for Park Place Motorcars to refashion its Rolls-Royce Dallas showroom — Mies van der Rohe chairs, aluminum pendant lights and all — mere months before the British automaker’s hottest debut in years, the ROLLS-ROYCE WRAITH.

Rolls-Royce first used the Wraith nameplate in 1938 and ’39, as running chassis on which outside coachbuilders would ply their styling prowess. But now it’s back, in-house, as a spectacular and reimagined fastback coupé. We’re especially enamored with the interior, which was inspired by ultraluxury yachts, with elegant wood paneling that almost fully covers the inside of the rear-hinged suicide doors and yards and yards of leather. (Don’t get us started on the Starlight headliner: 1,340 twinkling fiber-optic pinpoints handwoven into the roof lining to suggest a starry night.) Pulling the stout two-door will be a V12 engine with two turbochargers — they’ll whip up 624 horsepower — mated to a titillatingly named Satellite Aided Transmission, which will scan the road ahead using global positioning and choose precisely which of the car’s eight gears it thinks is best for the situation. Rolls-Royce CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös has already swooned over the Wraith as “the boldest design, the most dramatic performance and the most powerful Rolls-Royce that has ever played host to the famous Spirit of Ecstasy figurine.” The mind reels, doesn’t it? Deliveries begin this fall, with prices likely to be around the $300,000 mark. Rolls-Royce Motorcars Dallas, 5300 Lemmon Ave., Dallas, 214-443-8240, rollsroycedallas.parkplacetexas.com